Day 5 - Waldameer

The drive to Waldameer was quick and pleasant, and the park was very easy to
find. Even as I drove up, I knew this park was going to be head and shoulders
better than Conneaut.

Wow...it's really surprising how two parks can be so
night and day different and be less than an hour apart. As soon as I walked
in, Waldameer seemed cute and fun and family friendly. And it didn't smell
like an attic! It was landscaped well and generally looked a million times
nicer than Conneaut.

I was still hungry at this point since I hadn't eaten, but Comet was right
there beckoning me, and there was no line!

So I went ahead and rode it. This
was another great, fun little woodie. It was buried all within the trees so
it was difficult to get a good picture of it. After my ride, I found the
Potato Patch, so I got a burger and fries with cheese sauce. When the guy
gave me my change, I noticed that he gave me three different kinds of
nickels...a Canadian one, the regular looking one, and a new one I'd never
seen before. As I mentioned it, I dropped it straight into my cheese sauce!
So the guy working there got a good laugh about it with me. My burger was
fantastic...it was charcoal grilled, and tasted just like something my dad
would make during the summer. Never had a real charcoal grilled burger before
in a park, but it was great! The fries were a bit on the greasy side, which
is why I don't tend to buy natural fries a lot, but I ate them anyway.

Julie didn't get whacked in the Whacky Shack

I walked around a bit taking in the scenery, when I came upon the Whacky
Shack. Seems like everyone who talks about Waldameer says that you *have* to
do the Whacky Shack...so I gave it a try. I was so nervous through the whole
thing (why do I act like a baby in fun houses?!?! haha) but true to it's
name, it really was more just "whacky" than scary. Wonder if anyone has every
pointed out that they have "wacky" spelled wrong? :-) Pirates Cove was right
next door, but it's a walk through I believe, and fearing another Noah's Ark
type attraction, I passed.

I wanted some aerial photos, so I got on the ski lift ride next. It had the
longest wait of anything at that park...around 10 minutes. The poor ride op
looked so hot and so tired, and he was loading and unloading the whole thing
by himself!

Julie on the ski lift, high above Waldameer

It was a very nice ride, which afforded me a few great pictures!
The ski lift reminded me of Lake Winnie, which is probably my favorite of the
small, independently owned parks I've visited.

When I left the ski lift, I decided to make a stab at riding Ravine Flyer 3
without a kid.

There was no one in line...and there had been no one in line
when I was on the ski lift either. So I went up to the girl working there and
used my sad face and said "Do I really have to have a kid to ride this?"
Really apologetically sounding, she said "Yeah, I'm sorry." So I said "Ok,
can I just wait here until a kid comes up that I can ride with?" That made
her laugh, so she said I could ride by myself, but just once, and I said that
once was all I wanted to ride it! So I took a front seat ride, and it's
actually quite a bit more interesting than most kiddie coasters since it's
above water most of the time. When I left, I thanked her for humoring me.

Woah! Every park in the world needs one of these signs!

With one more fine kiddie coaster credit under this credit whore's belt, I
went over to ride Steel Dragon.

I'd never ridden a coaster quite like this
before. Other spinning mice are like regular mice, but spin when you hit
certain turns. This one loads people on the front and the back, and spins and
gyrates most of the time, in sync with the way the track is banking.

It was really a cool coaster since you didn't know which way you were gonna spin
next! The cars are beautiful too, with dragons painted on the sides.

I would have loved to have spent more time at Waldameer, but I still had
Darien Lake to visit, and it was already mid-afternoon. The rest of the rides
were kind of ordinary anyway, but looked fun. It's definitely a park I'd like
to visit again when I can spend more time there. I really had high hopes for
this park from the way everyone talks about it, and I found it just as cute
and charming as I was hoping.